In Praise of Mystic Fire

In Praise of Mystic Fire

Shrikant Vasudeo
My search for the
Living Truth
Solely and exclusively based onSri Aurobindo’s
Hymns to the Mystic Fire


The Hidden Meaning of Poetry of the Mystic Fire
The Doctrine of the Mystics

Veda is an inspired knowledge. It does not much use intellectual and philosophical terms in its expression of the Divine Truth. Like Upanishad, it contains high spiritual substance. However, it lacks the phraseology of Upanishad. Veda is a language of the poets and illuminates. The poetry that is Veda is rich in experiences which are real, vivid and sensible. It is even concrete to our consciousness. However, it is not a work of the thinkers and systematisers to whom the realities of the mind and soul have become abstractions. Even so, we find a system and a doctrine in Veda. But the structure of the doctrine is supple. Its terms are concrete. The cast of its thought is practical and experimental. It needs to be emphasized here that the doctrine of Veda is in the accomplished type of an old and sure experiences. It is not crude and uncertain system coming from persons on their learning curve of life. Vedas present to us the ancient psychological science and the art of spiritual living. Upanishads are the philosophical outcomes of Vedic thought. Extending this timeline further, Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga represent late intellectual result and logical dogma. Veda is like all life and science which is still vital. It is free from the armoured rigidities of the reasoning intellect. It is a wonderful thing that with all its established symbols and sacred formulae, the Veda is still large, free, flexible, fluid, supple and subtle. It has the movement of life and the large breath of the soul. Veda is a Book of Works. It ignites our hopes after spurning our present bonds and littleness. It strives for perfection, self-achievement and immortality. On the other hand, the later Philosophies are books of Knowledge and make liberation (Moksha) from the cycle of life and death the one supreme good.

The Doctrine of the Mystics recognizes the limitation of the studious pursuit of the mind. It recognizes that the final Truth is un-definable because it is Unknowable, Timeless and Un-nameable. The same Truth appears to us in various aspects. From the Impersonal point of view, the Truth is That, the One Existence. On the other hand, from the pursuit of our personality, it reveals itself out of the secrecy of things as the God or Dewa. For the ordinary reason we find the paradox of the Nameless Truth having many names. It is immeasurable and beyond description while at the same time it is also that which holds in himself all description of name and knowledge and all measures of form and substance, force and activity.

Veda reveals that the Dewa or Godhead is both the original cause and the final result. He is Divine Existent, builder of the worlds. He is lord and begetter of all things. He is Male and Female, Being and Consciousness. He is also the Father and Mother of the Worlds and their inhabitants. At the same time, the Ultimate Truth is the Son of the Worlds – for he is the Divine Child born into the Worlds. He manifests himself in the growth of the creature. He takes various forms and personalities of Rudra and Vishnu, Prajapati and Hiranyagarbha, Surya, Agni, Indra, Vayu, Soma, Brihaspati, Varuna, Mitra, Bhaga and Aryaman – all the gods. He is the wise, mighty and liberating Son born from our works and our sacrifice. He is the Hero in our warfare and Seer of our knowledge. He is the White Steed in front of our days who gallops towards the upper Ocean.

Veda has compared the soul of man with the Bird – the Hansa. He, like the Bird, soars past the shining firmaments of physical and mental consciousness. He climbs as the traveler and fighter beyond earth of body and heaven of mind. He moves towards his goal by an ascending path of the Truth to find this Godhead waiting for us. The God leans down to us from the secrecy of the highest supreme where it is seated in the triple divine Principle and the source of the Beatitude. Deva is attracting and exalted in the other worlds. Here in this world he is helpful to us in the person of the greater Gods. In both these states, Dewa is always the Friend and Lover of man. He is pastoral Master of the Herds. He gives us the sweet milk and the clarified butter from the udder of the shining Cow of the infinitude. He is the source and out pourer of the ambrosial Wine of divine delight. We drink this wine in ecstasy. This Wine is believed to be drawn from the sevenfold waters of existence. It is also believed that it is pressed out from the luminous plant on the hill of being. When we get uplifted by raptures of this divine wine, we become immortal.